How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I am
not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and cooling
fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and then it
springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but then
starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to completely go
through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After that, it's good
for another week or so until it begins to start up by itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I
am not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and
cooling fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and
then it springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but
then starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to
completely go through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After
that, it's good for another week or so until it begins to start up by
itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch

Open Windows Task Manager (ctrl-alt-del) and open the Processes tab.

"D.Duck" wrote in message
...

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I
am not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and
cooling fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and
then it springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but
then starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to
completely go through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After
that, it's good for another week or so until it begins to start up by
itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what
is running.

Eisboch

Open Windows Task Manager (ctrl-alt-del) and open the Processes tab.


......and prepare to be confused. You won't recognize many of the processes,
so you'll need to continue researching & asking questions. Shutting down
some of them can make you cry.

On Jan 29, 3:37*pm, "Eisboch" wrote:
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I am
not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and cooling
fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and then it
springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but then
starts up again by itself. *The only way to stop this is to completely go
through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. *After that, it's good
for another week or so until it begins to start up by itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. *I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch

Open a task manager and look at the programs listed there. [ctl] [alt]
[del].

On Jan 29, 3:37 pm, "Eisboch" wrote:

How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?

Well!

I'd like to thank each and every one of the geeks that offered the answer
and suggestions.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

I just checked the task manager and right now there are only two programs
running ... Outlook Express and Firefox.
Next time it starts doing it's automatic restart nonsense, I'll check it
again and see what else is running.
It might be "Spyware Doctor" that automatically updates itself.

Thanks.

Eisboch

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

On Jan 29, 3:37 pm, "Eisboch" wrote:

How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?

Well!

I'd like to thank each and every one of the geeks that offered the answer
and suggestions.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

I just checked the task manager and right now there are only two programs
running ... Outlook Express and Firefox.
Next time it starts doing it's automatic restart nonsense, I'll check it
again and see what else is running.
It might be "Spyware Doctor" that automatically updates itself.

Thanks.

Eisboch




Do you leave OE running when you put the machine in standby? If so, do you
have OE set up to check for mail automatically?

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

On Jan 29, 3:37 pm, "Eisboch" wrote:

How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?

Well!

I'd like to thank each and every one of the geeks that offered the answer
and suggestions.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

I just checked the task manager and right now there are only two programs
running ... Outlook Express and Firefox.
Next time it starts doing it's automatic restart nonsense, I'll check it
again and see what else is running.
It might be "Spyware Doctor" that automatically updates itself.

Thanks.

Eisboch




Do you leave OE running when you put the machine in standby? If so, do you
have OE set up to check for mail automatically?

Usually I shut it and Firefox (if I was using it) down before I put the
computer in "standby". But, sometimes I forget. And yes, OE checks for
mail automatically.

Eisboch

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

On Jan 29, 3:37 pm, "Eisboch" wrote:

How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so
to
speak?

Well!

I'd like to thank each and every one of the geeks that offered the
answer and suggestions.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

I just checked the task manager and right now there are only two
programs running ... Outlook Express and Firefox.
Next time it starts doing it's automatic restart nonsense, I'll check it
again and see what else is running.
It might be "Spyware Doctor" that automatically updates itself.

Thanks.

Eisboch




Do you leave OE running when you put the machine in standby? If so, do
you have OE set up to check for mail automatically?

Usually I shut it and Firefox (if I was using it) down before I put the
computer in "standby". But, sometimes I forget. And yes, OE checks for
mail automatically.

Eisboch


Next: If I look at the Applications list in task manager, it does NOT show
my AV software or firewall. Your AV software may be checking for updates,
and thereby waking up the computer.

Unfortunately, the one program I *want* to wake up the computer doesn't do
so: winfax. There's no logic to these things.

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

On Jan 29, 3:37 pm, "Eisboch" wrote:

How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?

Well!

I'd like to thank each and every one of the geeks that offered the answer
and suggestions.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

I just checked the task manager and right now there are only two programs
running ... Outlook Express and Firefox.
Next time it starts doing it's automatic restart nonsense, I'll check it
again and see what else is running.
It might be "Spyware Doctor" that automatically updates itself.

Thanks.

Eisboch


I have 'Picture Perfect automatically startup. I believe it started when I
loaded the software for my Sony digital camcorder.
I don't use the program so I'll have to remove it.

wrote in message
...
\

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:38:03 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

I just checked the task manager and right now there are only two programs
running ... Outlook Express and Firefox.
Next time it starts doing it's automatic restart nonsense, I'll check it
again and see what else is running.
It might be "Spyware Doctor" that automatically updates itself.

Thanks.

Eisboch




There is a lot more than that running. I promise. Go back to task manager
and
click on the tab for PROCESSES. That is where all the "background" stuff
shows
up. Unfortunately for you, it may not be at all obvious what some of them
are
parts of. An example would be if you had Symantec Antivirus on the
computer,
there would be several processes associated with it. One would be called
RTVSCAN, which is the Real Time Virus Scan process. There might also be
one
called DLUPD (or something like that) for "Do Live Update"

The program tab only shows user apps that are running.


You're right. There's a bunch of stuff going on in that tab.

I think I will just leave things as they are. Overall, this computer works
fine and everytime I mess around I regret it, mainly because I don't have a
clue what I am doing when it comes to computers.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Eisboch